User-wearable illumination devices are known in the art for providing illumination to assist practitioners during the performance of various medical and/or dental procedures. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,667,291 to Caplan et al. discloses a lightweight, user-wearable illumination assembly that can be removably attached to user-wearable devices, such as eyeglasses, face shields, headbands, or various other devices. U.S. Pat. No. 5,667,291 is commonly owned by the assignee of the present application, and is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. The illumination device disclosed therein utilizes a light guide, such as a fiber optic cable, to provide illumination from a remote illumination source.
While prior illumination devices have been developed to overcome various drawbacks of previously available lighting implements, further improvements to such user-wearable illumination devices is desired to make the devices even more compact and lightweight, without sacrificing performance.